


Please Don't Set Me Up With Mickey Milkovich

by ronans



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: AU, Ian and Karen are roommates, M/M, Office Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 22:14:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2668307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronans/pseuds/ronans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Working at Worldwide Cup is… average. Sure, the benefits are great, he gets special treatment sometimes because his sister’s banging the boss, and his colleagues are easy to get along with, but there’s only so much selling cups can do for a guy.<br/>Things within the office start heating up, however, when Mickey Milkovich fills in for a very pregnant co-worker. Aside from being the only other openly gay guy on Ian’s floor, Mickey’s exactly his type (brash, blue-eyed, insanely hot in a shirt and tie) and hell do Ian’s friends know it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> ~avoiding mock exam revision and writing more pressing updates because I'm a piece of shit~  
> I hope you like this though? I'm upping the rating (or actually putting a rating on this thing) on the next chapter so... maybe if you're following other fics you'll forgive me?

‘Hey, Fi.’

‘Ian! How was your weekend?’

Ian leans his forearms on the dividing wall of his sister’s cubicle and shrugs. ‘Karen forced me out of the apartment again.’

Fiona offers her brother a stick of gum as soon as she spots him eyeing her mouth as she chews. ‘Bummer.’

‘Yeah, but it actually turned out for the better. I went out and… met a guy.’

Fiona claps her hands together and grins eagerly. ‘What’s his name? Is he nice?’

‘Oh, shit, not that kinda _I met a guy_ , I mean… I _met_ a _guy_.’

Fiona frowns for a couple of seconds until Ian wiggles his eyebrows lecherously. She scrunches her face up and slaps his arm. ‘Gross. Spare me the details, then, Casanova. And how is that different from any other weekend?’

‘What about you?’ Ian asks, ignoring her question and finally putting the gum in his mouth.

‘Oh, ya know, the usual. Mike stayed over-‘ She’s cut off by the sound of a call coming in and she smiles apologetically, putting on her headset. ‘Hey, this is Worldwide Cup, I’m Fiona, how may I help you?’

Ian smirks at her “telephone voice” and pushes off the divider, making his way towards the back of the room where his own cubicle is situated. As he sits down, he lets out an almighty sigh, already anticipating how his day’s going to go. Every day’s uniform; he’ll pick up the phone, send a potential client over to the sales department and repeat. The only interesting part of his job is lunch where he’s free to talk to his sister and the people he’s made friends with over the past three months or so he’s been working there.

‘Hello, I’m Ian at Worldwide Cup, how may I help you?’

‘ _Yeah, hi, I’m calling about an incorrect order_ …’ _Blah blah blah_. The whole process was so mundane it actually hurt his skull sometimes. He’s firmly sticking to his plans of this purely being a temporary job until he figures out what he wants to do. He’s twenty one years old, this career isn’t for forever by any means.

His morning passes decidedly slowly, with the occasional conversation with his friend Jade who works in the cubicle in front of him. She’s got the thickest dark brown hair he’s ever seen and is always twirling it around her fingers as she talks. It kind of annoys him, kind of endears him.

‘Jade, I’m taking lunch,’ Ian sighs as he stretches, cracking his bones.

‘Good idea,’ she agrees, getting up and unceremoniously throwing her headset on her desk. Ian’s itching to loosen his tie; he always gets this way around midday. ‘Oh man am I hungry,’ Jade groans, dramatically grasping her stomach. Ian chuckles and pats her back.

‘I’ve gotta rely on just the vending machine today,’ Ian grumbles, dragging his feet. The vending machine was rarely ever re-stocked, so Ian usually ended up with an old pack of raisins or something, because seriously, who bought raisins from a vending machine by choice?

‘You poor, beautiful child. You can have half of my sandwich.’ The tone she uses makes it obvious to Ian that he’s definitely going to be made to eat it and shouldn’t even try to politely object. All of his friends are stubborn as fuck.

Fiona, Mike and another of Ian’s friends Andy are already sat around one of the tables in the break room, a small pile of rubbish gathered in the centre. Ian exhales and plops down next to Mike, nodding hello.

‘Jade, _fucking Jade_ , help me out, dude,’ Andy groans as she sits down. Both she and Ian frown in confusion.

‘Uhm, okay? What’s up?’ Jade asks cautiously, opening her sandwich packet and handing one half to a very grateful Ian.

Andy places both hands on top of the table as Mike grins and Fiona shakes her head. ‘Mike’s gotta get a cat, right?’

This was the kind of riveting discussion Ian dealt with every day.

Jade shrugs and chews. ‘Hm…’

Andy lifts an eyebrow, waiting for her to elaborate. When she doesn’t, he huffs and sits back in his chair. ‘You’re getting a cat, Mike.’

‘Yeah, okay,’ Mike replies, obviously just to appease him. Suddenly, he gets up and leans down to place a kiss on Fiona’s head. ‘Sorry, guys, gotta get back to work.’

‘It’s only been ten minutes! You could stay for a little bit longer?’ Fiona whines and Ian smiles at how his sister’s acting. She never really lets the guy she’s with know that she actually wants them around, but with Mike everything’s been different, been _better_.

Mike grins and then places a chaste kiss on her lips. ‘Ah, I wish, but I can’t. I’ll see you tonight, though, right?’

Jade practically has hearts in her eyes as she watches the couple interact, while Andy awkwardly sits there fiddling with his paisley tie. Ian’s pretty sure he likes Fiona, but he can never really tell with him.

After a while, Ian just tunes it all out and mechanically eats his food, trying to stop thinking about how nice it would be if he could be like that with someone. Jesus Christ.

*

As his stomach’s been constantly reminding him the entire journey home, sharing a friend’s sandwich will only satiate hunger for so long. He’s practically groaning by the time he lets himself up to his apartment. He dumps his messenger bag next to the sofa and trudges straight to the kitchen.

‘Hey!’ he shouts out to Karen.

‘Sup,’ she mumbles back at him when he enters the kitchen as she takes a Hot Pocket out of the microwave. Her blonde hair’s hanging in her face and she’s wearing a baggy cotton t-shirt but that’s all. He’s actually pretty surprised, she normally only bothers with less when she’s just hanging around the apartment.

‘Oh, we got any of those left?’ Ian asks hopefully. She just shrugs and then shakes her head nonchalantly.

‘Nah, this is the last one.’ Ian rolls his eyes and nods as he makes his way over to the fridge. ‘Good day at the office?’

Ian doesn’t understand how she can make a pleasant question sound so monotone. He knows she doesn’t really give a shit about how his day went, doesn’t even bother disguising it when she asks, but Ian appreciates the fact that she does.

‘Eh, it was okay. Nothing unusual happened.’

‘Great,’ she replies, biting into her food. Karen vaguely waves her hand at him before exiting the kitchen and leaving Ian on his own.

There’s a box of breakfast health bars lying on the counter and he’s pretty ravenous so he doesn’t even think before sinking his teeth into one of them.

‘Oh yeah, don’t touch the health bars or whatever, they’re Jody’s!’ Karen calls before she slams her bedroom door shut. Ian seriously contemplates spitting it out before he just shrugs and carries on chewing. Jody won’t miss _one_ , surely.

With the stolen block of muesli half hanging out of his mouth, he rifles through the freezer searching for a frozen pizza or maybe even ice cream, he doesn’t care, he just needs something that’s convenient.

Finally he retrieves a pizza and sticks it in the oven as fast as possible. He’s got nothing to do while it cooks, so he just leans against his kitchen counter and taps his fingers against his legs. It’s because of the lack of anything to do that he’s forced to dwell on just how sad his life’s become where something as routine as cooking a pizza has to take up all of his attention because he has nothing else that he can be doing. Fuck, he needs more friends, or a new career, or _something_ because he seriously feels pathetic.

‘I’ll call Debbie,’ he says quietly to himself, determined.

It passes in a blur, but eleven o’clock rolls around and he still hasn’t picked up the phone. He figures it’s too late now and pushes it back to another day.

*

Ian squints at the empty cubicle opposite Jade’s workspace for about a minute before he remembers _oh yeah, Svetlana was insanely pregnant_. He thinks he can vaguely recall having some cake the week before, celebrating her last week before going on maternity leave or something. He can’t really be blamed for forgetting, though. After a while, all of the days just blend together into a big pile of insignificance. And anyone’d be surprised by how little it takes for the cup company to bring out cake. He shakes his head turns back to his computer.

About half an hour into his day, Jade pops her head over the divider with a positively evil grin. Ian’s immediately concerned for what she’s about to tell him. Carefully, he removes his headset and narrows his eyes at her.

‘…What?’

‘Guess who’s replacing Svetlana while she’s on leave?’

‘I dunno, who?’ Ian asks tiredly, knowing exactly what she’d say in response.

‘Guess!’

‘Ergh,’ Ian groans. ‘Chewbacca?’

Jade scowls at him before she smoothes out her expression, telling him anyway because she can’t hold in her excitement. ‘Mickey Milkovich!’

Ian cocks his head. The name sounds familiar but he can’t quite place it. ‘And I’m supposed to be excited… why?’

She widens her eyes and clasps her hands over the edge of the screen. ‘Ian! He’s _gay_.’

‘Oh _wow_ , and I’m supposed to be attracted to every single gay guy ever, right? Because if they’re gay they’ve _got_ to attract the other gays.’

‘Oh my god, don’t turn this into a thing, you know what I meant.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ Ian concedes, picking up a pencil from his desk and spinning it around with his fingers absently. ‘So how did you even find out-‘

‘Everyone!’ Mike calls from the end of the row, effectively shutting anyone who had been talking up, including Ian. When Ian stands up so as to be able to look over the divider, he can see Mike’s got this big beam on his face and has one hand resting on the shoulder of a shorter, darker haired man. Ian’s mouth instantly goes fucking bone dry. In some ways, he wishes Mickey’d been completely vile so he could prove his point to Jade, but he’s most _definitely not_. He’s exactly his type looks-wise. Fuck.

‘As you all know, Svetlana’s gone on maternity leave,’ Mike pauses for a moment as the anticipated ‘aww’s are let out – Ian is not one of those people – and then starts up again, ‘ _so_ we’re welcoming Mickey to the team. He’s gonna replace her while she’s away. And I want you all to introduce yourselves to him and make sure he fits in.’

Ian grins because Mickey looks intensely pissed off with how cheerful Mike is. Ian gets it; it took him a while to get used to the weirdly light and friendly atmosphere of the workplace and also Mike himself. From how Jade had acted, Ian almost expected Mike to tack ‘ _oh and by the way he’s gay as hell_ ’ on the end. Thankfully for Mickey, he doesn’t, just pats his shoulder a couple of times, beams at everyone again, and leaves.

Mickey rakes his eyes over everyone’s smiling faces and looks highly confused, like he really didn’t expect people to be genuinely happy with an office job _selling cups_. Again, Ian gets it. After a few seconds he moves towards the only empty desk in the room and it’s then that Ian realises he’s the only one still stood up. He hurries to sit back in his chair but still peeks around his work station to where Mickey’s inspecting some of the weirder items left on the desk. Like a voodoo doll with a pen sticking through its heart. Svetlana was one of the less peppy employees.

And Ian’s got a perfect view of his ass as he takes a seat. _So fucking creepy_.

He can see Jade whipping her head back and forth between him and Mickey like some sort of deranged cupid, ready to grab them both and force them to kiss. _It’s starting_ he thinks to himself, slowly putting his headset back on.

It’s not until lunch that Andy corners him.

‘Hey! Ian! Come here!’ He looks so excited it’s scary, but Ian still makes his way over, smoothing out a dollar bill ready to put in the vending machine.

‘Uh, yes?’

‘You know Mickey’s g-‘

‘Oh my god,’ he groans, covering his face with his hands. ‘Yes, I know, why does everyone just assume-‘

‘Be _cause_ , Ian, you forget that we’ve known you for a while now…’

He really doesn’t like the way that Andy, Jade _and_ Fiona are all smirking knowingly at him in unison. He throws his hands in the air. ‘Jesus. What? What is it?’

Fiona lets out a small chuckle. ‘He’s exactly your type!’

‘If you got the chance you’d probably settle down with him, get married and adopt a few babies, he’s _that much_ your type,’ Jade provides, as if that’s a normal thing to say about a guy who just started working at the company that same day.

Andy, for once, is actually the voice of reason. ‘Jade, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Ian’s perfectly happy living with Karen right now.’

Ian makes an unattractive noise in the back of his throat, moving towards the vending machine but still talking to them. ‘If you don’t count her and Jody’s raging sex life, living with Karen’s great.’

Fiona grimaces and bites into her apple. ‘Wow… Does Jody not have his own apartment?’

Ian frowns in thought before bending down to pick up the soda can from the dispenser. ‘I… actually don’t know. But even if he did, I don’t think Karen would sympathize with me enough to fuck at his place.’

‘You should start bringing a certain guy home every night and just have raw, ridiculously loud hot sex with them to get back at her,’ Jade suggests, making Fiona screw up her face in disgust.

‘Yeah, like they’d want me to fuck their brains out with her, Jody and Seal screaming in the next room. I bet she wouldn’t even stop if I _was_ bringing guys home.’

‘Uhm?’

Ian blanches and swivels around at the new voice. He’d just taken a sip of his drink and yet his mouth still seemed to be devoid of moisture upon seeing Mickey. Fuck. _Seriously fuck_. Well, at least he knows he’s not going to get fag bashed. He might have alienated him for other reasons, though.

‘Hello.’ Christ does he sound awkward.

‘Mickey,’ Jade greets and Ian’s just a little worried at her tone of voice. It’s like she’s about to do something embarrassing.

‘Yeah, hi,’ Mickey grumbles back. His arched eyebrows elevate slightly as he looks at each of the room’s occupants. Until he turns his gaze to Ian, then he appears almost appreciative. Andy starts choking which probably means that he knew exactly how to interpret what was in Mickey’s eyes.

‘Anyone got a smoke ‘round here?’ Mickey asks casually when Andy’s finished having his coughing fit. Ian glances over at him, knowing that they’re the only smokers in the room. He’s completely dishevelled - blonde hair a mess and face bright red - but he still manages to shoot Ian a smug grin. Fuck’s sake. Ian rolls his eyes and looks back over at a slightly more self-conscious Mickey.

‘Yup.’ Ian digs his hand into the pocket of his slacks and retrieves a pack of cigarettes, sliding one out from the pack and putting it in Mickey’s awaiting hand. Is he seriously jealous of a cigarette? Bleak.

‘Thanks, man. You wanna come with?’

Ian’s eyes threaten to widen in surprise, but he manages to compose himself just in time. ‘Uh, I would, but I gotta eat. Rain check?’

Mickey nods slowly and sticks the cigarette in his mouth, speaking around it like he just _knows_ it drives Ian crazy. ‘Sure. See ya.’ The corners of his lips turn up a fraction before he turns around and exits the room.

He can hear Jade barely containing her laughter as she whispers ‘ _Rain check_?! _Seriously_?’ into Andy’s ear.

Fiona waits a moment after Mickey’s gone before turning to Ian with her eyebrows drawn together, instantly carrying on their pre-Mickey conversation as if they hadn’t paused. ‘Wait, _Seal_? What’s up with that?’

*

So it's looking to be another sleepless night filled with the sounds of Karen and Jody fucking to _Kiss From A Rose_. He squeezes his eyes shut and rolls over, desperately trying to get to sleep. Sometimes he wishes he could have someone who he could just visit sometimes when the flat gets too loud. At night. A man’s place. Mickey-

He’s stopping himself right the fuck there. Curse Jade for putting these absolutely ridiculous thoughts in his head.

A particularly animalistic roar sounding from the other side of the wall is all it takes for Ian to get up and drag his covers through the apartment and to the couch, because at least the couch is one of the furthest places away from Karen’s room.


	2. Fucking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm not great at chapter titles...  
> Warning: there's porn afoot. Ha... It's separated by an asterisk so you can probably gloss over it if the actual sex isn't your kinda thing. It's not mine usually, either, but there you go. I felt okay writing it for a change which is weird for me... Anyway, I hope you like it :)  
> By the way, I changed Ian's age from nineteen to twenty one

There’s an irrational jealousy that flares up every time Ian sees Mickey hanging around with his apparent new best buddy Tom. Tom had been a nice enough guy up until last week. No longer liking Tom is a necessary fatality on the road to claiming Mickey Milkovich as his own.

‘You might wanna reign that in a little, psycho boy,’ Jade says, actually walking into his cubicle instead of how she’d usually just pop her head over the screen. ‘You definitely won’t _claim_ him if you ever open your mouth in his presence and say that kinda stuff.’

Shit. He’d said that out loud. ‘Oh god. Did I really just…?’

‘Mhm. Look, I’ve gotta get you sorted out, you’re a mess right now. Obsessive. Weird… Probably haven’t been making cups sound so enticing to new clients, amirite?’

Ian dips his head and practically growls in exasperation. ‘This is all your fault.’

‘I can make something else my fault too. I’m setting you up on a date with him.’

Ian’s head snaps up. ‘Please don’t.’

She cocks her head confusedly. ‘What? Why not? It’s pretty damn clear that you like him…’

‘Please don’t set me up with Mickey Milkovich.’ Ian feels like he’s begging at this point. Actually, with the _please_ , he definitely is.

‘ _Why_?’ Jade asks, eyes bugging with frustration at her friend.

‘Because I can’t _like_ someone! That’s not me, I’ve been sleeping around for a while now, and I’m pretty… pretty damn comfortable with it.’

‘Are you even listening to yourself? This is so sad, Ian, Jesus,’ she says with a little giggle.

She starts to frown, though, when she watches Ian glare at how Tom’s leaning against Mickey’s desk, making him laugh, ‘…making him happy, _probably fucking flirting with_ -‘

‘ _Ian_! God, what the hell?’ Jade laughs again, but it’s a bit more forced. Ian tries to ease the tension out of his posture, but it’s damn hard when Mickey’s actually grinning up at Tom like he’s just _amazing_. So much more _wonderful_ than Ian. The most Ian’s done for Mickey is give him a cigarette every couple of days and comment about insignificant shit when they’re both in the break room making coffee or whatever. ‘You know Tom’s not gay right?’

Ian looks up at his friend and gestures wildly over at how close the co-workers are standing. Jade glances behind her at the two of them and rolls her eyes. ‘Jade! Look at that! There’s no way they’re not- You know what, no, I’m not getting invested in this. Nope.’

Ian actually lets out a panicked squeal when Jade huffs out a sigh and marches over to Mickey’s cubicle because it’s obvious what she’s going to do. Ian’s hands are outstretched like he could pull her back to safety but he’s frozen in his chair. Shit, when did he get so nervous about possibly hooking up with a specific guy? Maybe when he decided he didn’t want to just ‘hook up’ anymore.

He looks on with barely veiled horror as Jade taps Tom on the shoulder and speaks with him for a minute before he walks off with a satisfied grin. Ian wants to die. He actually wants a pit to open up in the floor and drag him down into hell because it’s unreal how reminiscent of Elementary school this is. It’s like _he’s_ asked Jade to ask Mickey out for him. Which he didn’t. He had been actively against her doing that, in fact.

The conversation looks innocent enough, with a sunny Jade propped up against the wall and using hand gestures to accompany her speech. Once or twice, she vaguely aims those gestures in Ian’s direction and he’s then on the tail end of a highly amused Mickey Milkovich expression.

When they’re done talking, Mickey basically swaggers over to him while Jade darts off in the other direction with a huge grin on her face. Mickey’s wearing this broad smirk and his eyes are completely focused on Ian.

‘Hey,’ he opens with, leaning against Ian’s cubicle divider. Ian’s pretty sure he’s more than a little behind on the list of calls he should be making, but he can’t find it in himself to care because Mickey’s blue tie does fucking fabulous things to his eyes.

He swallows deeply and puts on an easy smile. He’s pretty good at hiding whatever’s going on inside his stomach; it feels like there aren’t just butterflies but _vampire_ butterflies, attacking his insides… He’s thinking about it too much and notices that yeah, he’s just been staring a Mickey in complete silence for far too long. ‘Hi.’

‘So I’m guessing you don’t have a car either,’ Mickey says, picking at the skin around his nails without looking.

Ian frowns deeply in bewilderment. ‘Uh, what?’

‘I can’t fuckin’ pick you up or anything, I can meet you somewhere though.’

 _What_.

Mickey finally sighs and steps further into the cubicle, sitting _right the fuck next to Ian_ on top of his desk. ‘We’re goin’ to a diner or bar or something, none of that fancy Italian restaurant shit, right?’

Yeah, Ian’s getting it now. He brings the smile back and nods. ‘Sounds good.’

Mickey stares at him for a few moments before getting up and just wordlessly leaving to go back to his work station. Ian’s left baffled again, but shortly Mickey comes back with a piece of paper he’d ripped from a day planner. He roughly sticks out his hand, offering Ian the torn scrap. ‘S’my number, lemme know where you wanna go.’

And he just _walks off again_. Ian can’t jab the number into his phone fast enough.

_[To: **Mickey** ]_

_You know that diner opposite the Laundromat? Meet me there at 7:30_

Mickey spins his chair around so he can look over at Ian. He lets out a laugh and shakes his head before turning back around again.

_[From: **Mickey** ]_

_Sounds classy as fuck, I’m there_

*

Ian arrives just after 7:30 and waits outside the diner, his leather jacket slung over one arm. He’d waited until the last possible second to leave the apartment, and he figures that’s what Mickey’s done too if his quick once over of the diner’s current patrons are anything to go by; Mickey’s not there. He tries to quell the anxiety he’s feeling (because shit, Mickey might not even turn up) by lighting a cigarette and taking deeper and more frequent pulls than usual.

‘I’m not even gonna bother lying, I was on the phone to my sister and she can talk my fuckin’ ear off if she’s in the mood to.’

Ian starts and twists his head to the side, smiling as Mickey stops right in front of him. ‘I’d say that’s a valid excuse.’

‘Yeah, well even if it wasn’t, you’d just have to take it, Gallagher. Now move your ass so I can get inside.’

Even though Ian’s in no way obstructing Mickey’s route to the diner entrance, he shifts so as to allow Mickey to lead the way inside. They find an empty booth and slide in on opposite sides, instantly picking up their menus.

‘So you’re a tough guy, huh?’ Mickey says suddenly. Ian narrows his eyes at the other man over the top of the badly laminated menu.

‘What?’

‘You broke a rule at work. And here I was thinking you were just another yuppie.’ Ian’s totally lost, and it obviously shows because Mickey finally takes pity on him and explains. ‘Mike said everyone had to officially introduce themselves to me, but you never did, Gallagher. Was startin’ to think you just didn’t like me.’

Mickey’s smirk removes any doubt that Ian had on him teasing. ‘And yet you still know my name.’

‘Yup. Everyone’s been droppin’ hints to me that you’re gay.’

He grins and shakes his head. ‘Same for you.’

Mickey lifts an eyebrow and tips some salt from the shaker on the table into his hand. ‘Oh really? How’d they figure that one out?’

‘I think Jade did some investigating as soon as she found out your full name.’

Ian enjoys the easy smile they share until Mickey lets the salt fall through his fingers and starts to bite at his thumbnail, shifting his gaze to the window like he just remembered something he doesn’t really want to share. The other man’s sudden nervousness unsettles Ian a little, the previously laidback air between them suddenly growing tense with Mickey’s growing unease.

‘You… okay?’ Ian asks unsurely, leaning across the table marginally.

Mickey flicks his eyes back over to Ian momentarily before dropping them back to the table with a loud sigh. ‘Look… I don’t… I don’t normally do this kinda shit, alright?’

Ian frowns and then sits back. ‘What, dating?’ Mickey nods his affirmation. ‘Me neither. Not usually, anyway.’

For a second, Mickey looks relieved (even though it was basically Mickey who initiated this), but Ian doesn’t want to stop talking there, doesn’t want this thing he can see starting up with Mickey to end after tonight. Even if it makes Mickey tense again, he wants to let him know that Ian’s not down for one night stands anymore.

‘I’ve been looking to do this, though. For a while now.’

He watches Mickey’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallows, clearly on edge. He composes himself after a few seconds and aims a flirtatious smile at Ian, re-entering territory he’s clearly comfortable in. ‘I hear ya but… You got an apartment?’

It kind of defeats everything Ian had been trying to spell out, but he’s been fucking guys in the same manner as Mickey has for years now, so it’s not hard for him to just give in to the thought of a night with Mickey.

The waitress that had been making her way over to their table looks slightly shocked as they bustle past her, not having ordered anything. Ian doesn’t pay much notice to her, too preoccupied with the way Mickey’s eagerly striding towards the exit. If he’s at least looking forward to it, Ian can’t feel too upset. But that lump forms in his throat when he thinks about the possibility of waking up alone again the next day. Fucking pathetic.

*

Ian’s careful not to make too much noise as he opens the front door, but he soon realises it doesn’t matter as he sees Jody’s shoes placed just outside Karen’s shut door. Knowing that he wouldn’t be disturbing his roommate (not that she gives him the same courtesy of checking), he doesn’t waste time in pinning Mickey against the front door and dipping his head to smash their lips together. He’d pull away to admit that, yeah, that hurt a little, but he’s enjoying the roughness too much. And Mickey doesn’t seem to be complaining either, if the way he’s grinding against Ian’s thigh is anything to go by.

‘Why the fuck are you wearing so many clothes? It’s fuckin’ summer,’ Mickey growls against Ian’s quickly reddening mouth. Ian breathes out a laugh and throws his leather jacket on the floor.

Instead of answering, he roughly unbuttons Mickey’s shirt, still being careful not to pop any of the buttons off. In response, Mickey practically rips off Ian’s plain white t-shirt, balling it up in his fist like he’s not sure if it would be okay to leave clothes on the floor. That reluctance ultimately pushes Ian to guide them into his room.

He hadn’t tidied it too much, didn’t want to be overly optimistic about the evening’s outcome, but now he wishes he had maybe at least emptied his dirty laundry basket or something. Then again, he figures Mickey’s attention’s probably not on the un-vacuumed carpet or the overdue pile of washing.

Ian strips the last of his clothes and feels a small surge of pride at Mickey’s satisfied look over his naked body. Once he’s done ogling Ian – which honestly, Ian never really expected him to openly do that – he hastily gets out of his jeans and underwear and pushes Ian onto the bed before he can appreciate Mickey properly. His disappointment over this is short lived because Mickey latches onto his neck and starts _sucking_ , grinding his ass over Ian’s groin.

He’s already assumed what positions they’ll be taking, but he figures he should ask anyway. ‘Bottom?’

Mickey breaks from decorating Ian’s neck with hickeys to level him with an unimpressed stare. ‘Do I need to physically shove your dick up my ass myself for you to get the idea?’

Ian rolls his eyes and awkwardly reaches out to the drawer of his bedside table, searching for the half empty bottle of lube.

He’s quick to work Mickey open, loving the small noises the other man’s letting out above him. He’s not used to being underneath, but he can’t say he’s not damn excited for Mickey to ride him.

‘Jesus, just get in me already, you planning on shovin’ a house up there?’

Ian screws up his face and removes his fingers, feeling around the sheets for where he'd thrown the condom wrapper and lube bottle. Mickey watches hungrily as Ian carefully opens the wrapper with his teeth and then lifts his ass up so Ian can roll the condom on and apply a generous amount of lube.

‘Come o- _Shit_.’ Ian grins wickedly, catching Mickey off guard even after he’d not shut up about just how ready he was. The smile soon slides off his face when he focuses on how good the feeling is, eyes fluttering closed for a second as he allows Mickey to adjust. ‘Move, fucker, or I will.’

Ian’s not even sure that works as a threat because he’d be happy either way. He complies and lifts his hips up, almost irritatingly slowly at first, before easily picking up the speed. It’s not too long before Mickey starts taking some control, lifting himself up and down on Ian’s dick.

He’s never been so pissed off with his roommate as he is now, thrusting up into Mickey, when Mickey starts to squint. It’s not a weird sex face, he’s genuinely confused.

‘The… fuck?’ he breathes out, cocking his head to listen more closely, like he’s _not_ still bouncing on Ian Gallagher’s dick.

‘Oh my god, what?’ Ian huffs out with irritation, still keeping up his pace. Let it not be said that Ian can’t keep up idle chit-chat whilst still being a fantastic top.

‘The fuck is that… music?’ Mickey pants, nails digging more firmly into Ian’s chest. Ian groans and arches forward when Mickey circles his hips. Okay, so maybe he’s not able to keep up coherent conversation during sex. Mickey lightly shoves his shoulder. ‘Ian, did you leave on- ah, fuck- the fucking ra _dio_ or some shit?’

‘Ugh.’ That groan’s half from pleasure, half from realisation. ‘Just try to ignore it,’ Ian grunts, finally flipping Mickey over onto his back and trying to get the perfect angle again.

‘Oh _fuck_!’ Mickey moans, clearly pleased with the change of position.

He can feel his orgasm building so he keeps repeating the same fast, precise stabs, snapping his hips and watching Mickey writhe beneath him. He looks fucking amazing.

‘ _Ian_.’ He didn’t know his name could sound so fantastic coming out of another guy’s mouth as they’re… well… coming. Anyway, he lets the noise echo around in his brain as Mickey clenches around him and it only takes a few more thrusts before Ian lets out a groan and slumps over the man beneath him.

‘Jesus Christ.’

‘Hm, yeah, get the fuck off me,’ Mickey laughs, weakly pushing at Ian’s torso.

After Ian’s disposed of the condom and half-heartedly cleaned them both up with some tissues from the box on his bedside table, a pleasant quietness settles between them, only filled with the last of their blissed out panting.

‘M’not usually that loud,’ Mickey confesses after a little while, resting his head against his forearm rather than Ian’s pillow.

‘Kinda wished you’d been louder,’ Ian chuckles, still breathing pretty heavily. He takes the time to appreciate how both his and Karen’s rooms are now silent. Mickey grins and shrugs, glancing over at Ian almost _shyly_ which is really weird. They mumble to each other for a while before their voices get too sleep-slurred to keep up intelligible conversation.

When he sleeps, Ian thinks it’s probably the most peaceful he’s ever felt in the bed, lying next to Mickey. They’re not even touching but the bed just feels… nicer, somehow. He fucking hopes this happens again.

*

‘Oh hey, bro!’ Jody greets as soon as Ian appears out of his room, hair sticking up everywhere and looking pretty sheepish. Jody pulls him in for a hug even though the bigger man’s junk’s barely even covered by… yep, that’s a male thong. He soon releases Ian, thank god, and beams as he steps back. It’s about this point that Ian realises there’s the smell of pancakes in the air and Jody’s holding a spatula. ‘I was just makin’ breakfast. You were out of bacon so I just thought-‘

Ian doesn’t know why Jody stops mid-sentence until he hears his bedroom door creak as it shuts. He winces and looks behind him to see a very sleepy Mickey, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palm, padding up to him. So now they’re just three dudes standing in a hallway, all in their underwear.

‘Bro…’ Jody mutters, spatula still in the air from where he’d been gesticulating. ‘You…’

‘ _Shit_ , who’re you?’ Mickey asks in a croaky voice as he notices Jody. Ian can’t help himself from smiling at the sound. Mickey spots it and bats him in the side lightly.

‘I’m Karen’s fiancé…’ Jody replies slowly. And fuck, that’s news to even Ian.

‘Fiancé?’

Jody slaps the hand not holding a spatula to his forehead. ‘I forgot I wasn’t supposed to tell you yet!’

Honestly, Ian didn’t really think he meant enough to Karen for her to want to break that kind of thing to him in any particular way. ‘Karen told you not to say anything?’ Ian’s eyes track Mickey as he gets bored of the conversation and goes off to find some coffee himself.

As soon as Mickey’s out of ear shot, Jody changes topic hastily. Ian doesn’t think he does it on purpose, but it still effectively moves the conversation away from Jody and Karen’s relationship to Ian and Mickey’s. Jody gestures to Mickey’s back with the spatula and sports an open mouth. It’s pretty comical, looking at a guy in a thong waving his kitchen utensil around.

‘Did you hit that?’

Ian lets out a snicker and cards his hand through his hair. ‘Yeah, dude.’

‘So… You’re gay?’

Ian furrows his eyebrows and tilts his head. ‘I thought you knew?’

Jody shrugs and juts out hit bottom lip. ‘Nah, man, I’ve never really seen you with anyone though. You haven’t brought anyone back, I mean.’

 _Probably because I didn’t want to scare them off with your freaky sex noises_ ‘Oh, well… Yeah.’

He doesn’t think he’s ever talked to Jody for this long without Karen present and so the conversation naturally peters out into an awkward silence. Thank fuck for burning food.

‘Pancakes’re on fire,’ Mickey comments with absolutely no concern in his voice. Jody, on the other hand, leaps into action, rushing into the kitchen with urgency. Something must’ve slipped out if Mickey’s bugging eyes and direction of gaze are anything to go by. When Mickey makes his way back to Ian he lets out a low whistle.

‘Dude’s hung like a fuckin’ horse.’

Ian splutters and slaps his hands over his ears. ‘I saw enough through the underwear, I don’t need a description of it.’

‘Oh yeah, ‘cause that was so fucking detailed.’ Mickey rolls his eyes and then nudges Ian with his shoulder, walking past him to go back to Ian’s bedroom. ‘Come on, I wanna show you somethin’.’

‘Is it your dick? Because if it is, then that was so fucking corny.’

Mickey just chuckles and wiggles his eyebrows. So subtle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm keeping with this Kiss From A Rose running theme... at the cost of it playing on a loop in my head forever probably


	3. Take Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made it four chapters now because I thought it wouldn't look right if I put everything I've written into this one because of all the stuff happening... But I promise the (longer) next chapter is definitely the last one haha

For a couple of weeks, Ian just gets radio silence from Mickey. He’s a little sad, actually, because he’d thought they were on the same page, but obviously not. See, this is exactly why he hadn’t wanted to get into this shit.

It builds and builds until all Ian’s good feelings about their tiny date, the night and the next morning are just replaced with this bitterness. He wishes he’d just thought of it as any other guy, any other one night stand, but he knows that this time he’d wanted things to be different, that he’d wanted to change himself and work towards… _stability_. He’s gone from feeling frustrated for not fighting harder for a proper, full-length date with Mickey, to complete rejection, to sheer anger at Mickey’s indifference surrounding the issue. And he’s a little pissed off at Jade for setting this whole thing into motion, but he supposes she only wanted his happiness.

It has been two weeks. _Two weeks_. The whole time Ian’s just been staring diagonally across the walkway between the cubicles at the back of Mickey’s head, willing him to turn around and smile at him… or something. Although Mickey had cut their actual date short, Ian had assumed from the way the morning after had gone that they’d fallen back into wanting to make something slightly longer-term work.

After Mickey’d left mid-afternoon on Saturday, Ian had had the whole rest of the weekend to just slouch around the apartment smiling, hoping maybe Mickey would text him and sort something else out. When he hadn’t, Ian had been a little put out, but figured that he’d see Mickey on Monday and be able to talk to him. Except when Ian had given Mickey a warm smile as he’d walked past, Mickey only nodded back in a sort of dismissive manner. Yeah, that hadn’t made him feel good.

What hadn’t helped his mood had been his friends’ reactions when he came back to work. Jade, obviously, had known about the date and she’d been absolutely fine with telling Andy, Fiona, and their _boss_. Granted, he’s on good terms with him with the long-term-dating-his-sister and all, but… it’s his _boss_.

‘Heard someone got lucky on Friday,’ was what Andy had opened with. It was fine, Ian still felt pleasant about the date even after Mickey’s snub. He could deal with the oncoming needling.

‘Wow, I wonder who told you that.’

Fiona grinned and elbowed Ian as he’d sat down next to her. ‘Mickey Milkovich, huh?’

‘Yeah, Mickey Milkovich, ha ha, now can I eat my sandwich?’ Ian rushed out, flicking his eyes to each of his friends.

There was a pause before Jade nodded solemnly. ‘I get it; fuck boys, but also _fuck_ boys.’

Andy’d narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. ‘Yeah, see, now that you’ve said that I actually _don’t_ get why he’s in a pissy mood.’

‘I’m sorry I set you up with him, kid,’ Jade had sighed, leaning right over the table to pat him on the shoulder.

‘I don’t get it… I thought Mickey was your type?’ Mike said, looking over at Ian perplexedly.

Ian had rolled his eyes and barely refrained from smashing his head on the table, maybe just to distract them from questioning him. ‘Fine, okay, I enjoyed the date.’

Thing with Andy is, he doesn’t look too much into a person’s tone of voice, so he’d taken it as his cue to carry on with taking the piss out of Ian and his wonderful, happy love life. He’d called across the room: ‘Hey, Susan, guess who went on a date with Mickey on Friday?!’ and Mike had looked totally on board with Andy’s idea.

If Andy and Mike find something out, they’re going to spread it. Not maliciously (certainly not in Mike’s case, at least) but _still_. Ian’s not enjoyed the knowing looks he’s been getting from his colleagues – some he hasn’t even spoken to before in his life – when he and Mickey ever end up in a room together. But, _conveniently_ , Mickey’s made it so that they’re never _alone_ together.

So now Ian’s finally decided that that has to fucking stop.

He’s been plotting the entire morning, glaring angrily at the back of Mickey’s head and speaking through his teeth to customers. Needless to say he hasn’t been forwarding many calls to sales. He’s going to wait until Mickey gets up to use the bathroom or take a smoke break and he’s going to corner him… but in a less creepy way than he’s making it sound to himself. Jesus, now he feels clingy, because Mickey _had_ sort of made it clear that he didn’t date… _No_. Ian’s got to stay angry at the _short evil bastard who completely led him on_ \- ah, there it is.

As soon as there’s sign of Mickey beginning to remove his headset, Ian’s literally cutting the customer on his line off midsentence. There’s probably something feral in his eyes as he stalks behind Mickey and he wonders if it’s really a good idea to be pursuing getting a boyfriend if the mere idea of it is turning him into this obsessive freak. But then Mickey drops the pen he’d been fiddling with and stops walking to bend over to pick it up and _well_ …

Mickey’s not going for a smoke or a piss, he’s actually made his way into the copy room and it’s then Ian realises that he’s holding a small stack of papers. Ian doesn’t even pretend he entered the room for any purpose other than to force Mickey to at least look at him.

Mickey frowns in bewilderment as he spots Ian. ‘Gallagher?’

‘Yeah, hi,’ Ian says with no emotion although there’s definitely a scowl on his face. He feels like he’s being a little dramatic, but he’s been given two weeks for his thoughts on the matter to fester into something uglier than they probably should be. Plus, he’s pretty damn hurt that Mickey just dropped him like that.

‘You gonna take a swing?’ Mickey asks, nodding towards Ian’s clenched fists. Christ, he honestly hadn’t known he was _this_ worked up about Mickey’s dismissal.

‘Fuck, no, sorry.’ He finds that now he’s actually talking to Mickey, he’s a little less angry. Shit, he feels stupid. ‘I need to talk to you.’

‘Okay…’ Mickey genuinely looks baffled at this.

‘You didn’t call me. Or text… Haven’t even talked to me face to face for weeks now…’

Realisation lights up Mickey’s face and he smirks. ‘Look, I’m sorry, man,’ he says, shrugging and then glancing down at the papers in his hands. ‘You wanna fuck again?’

Ian’s livid. Oh Christ is he mad, probably irrationally so. ‘What? _No_. I thought we were gonna…’ He trails off, a self-conscious feeling quickly washing over him – so many fucking mood swings. Mickey lifts an unimpressed eyebrow, waiting for the end of the sentence. ‘We went on a da- _half_ a date.’

‘Yeah?’ Mickey sounds so fucking nonchalant. ‘Had fun. What else do you want me to say?’

 _Calm_. ‘I thought we were gonna try dating,’ he finally admits, bracing himself for Mickey’s most likely to be negative reaction.

‘I told you I don’t do that shit.’

‘Yeah, but you were the one to ask _me_ out in the first place so I thought you were being… different with me? Fuck, talk about mixed signals, you asshole.’ Mickey’s actually grinning at how wound up Ian’s getting, which seriously is _not_ making him feel any calmer. Fuck, he’s going all over the place because of one idiot guy who just seems to enjoy fucking with him.

‘You _want_ to date me?’ Mickey still sounds amused but, looking in his eyes, he can see they’re giving away some insecurity.

‘Well… yeah.’

Another shrug. ‘Okay.’

Ian squints at the shorter man. ‘Just… okay? And how am I supposed to take that, exactly?’

‘Fine. We’ll go on another date.’ He’s so _offhand_ it’s irritating… but Ian still likes him. Like, probably even more now because of how cool he’s playing this.

Ian can’t help but smile and he possibly looks slightly insane from how furious he’d been a minute ago. ‘We should probably go to a proper restaurant this time. Ya know, seeing as we’re trying new things.’

Mickey rolls his eyes. ‘Fuck off, we’re not doin’ that.’ He’s finally able to start photocopying his sheets since the air between them has been cleared. Ian leans against the machine and crosses his arms, sighing. Mickey looks up at him with barely any interest but Ian decides to speak anyway.

‘I’m sorry I got so mad at you, I don’t know what’s been goin’ on with me lately.’

‘I don’t care, man, don’t have to apologise for shit,’ Mickey grumbles, picking up the newly printed paper from the dispenser. Ian nods briefly and, at Mickey’s strange look, he takes it as his cue to leave.

‘Text me…’ Ian says awkwardly, smoothing down his tie.

Mickey smirks at him. ‘Whatever.’

Ian’s just going to have to take that as a positive response.

*

There’s a slightly confident feeling in Ian’s stomach as he waits for Mickey to arrive. They’d decided on going back to the same diner, but Ian was actually waiting inside at a table this time. It’s a seat by the window so he people watches as he waits.

‘Yo,’ Mickey says, startling Ian as he slides into his seat, the smell of cigarette smoke instantly filling the air around him. He’d been so distracted watching this one guy twirling around a ‘hot dogs this way’ sign.

‘Hey, you get here okay?’ Ian asks with a welcoming smile. He kinda wants to punch himself in the face.

Mickey gives him a weird look as he removes the thin hoodie he’d been wearing to reveal a tight tank top. Ian’s not sure if he misses his smarter work attire or prefers this look on him. ‘Uh, sure? Kinda stupid fuckin’ question, Gallagher.’

Ian winces. ‘Yep, sorry, I’m just… Anyway…’

Mickey lets out a snort and picks up his menu; this time it looks like he’s actually going to be ordering something which is pretty good for Ian. ‘Burgers.’

He stares over at the other man as he folds his menu back up and leans back with his arms crossed. ‘Uh…?’

‘We’re gettin’ burgers. Let’s not waste time with the shit that doesn’t matter here.’

There’s that sinking stomach feeling again. He feels more hopeless than angry this time around. ‘I thought we were going to-‘

Ian’s silenced by Mickey’s eye roll it’s _that_ dramatic. ‘Look, you wanna get to know each other, fine. Let’s just get the fuck on with that instead of just wasting time with all this awkward bullshit.’

‘Wow, you really don’t date, do you?’ Ian breathes out with a laugh. Because, sure, he’s slightly rusty, but at least he knows that you don’t just lay out the structure of what’s going to happen, like a successful date formula.

Mickey just shrugs and sniffs. ‘Thought I made that clear. Twice.’ He sniffs again and starts tapping his fingers against the table but then puts on a sudden smirk. ‘So you come here often?’

‘Oh my god,’ Ian groans, shielding his eyes with his hands. But it’s worked; he feels better about this whole thing already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'welcoming smile'... yeah, I watched Frank again the other day.


	4. Together

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a little while to get posted, but it's here now :)

He knows he looks like a bit of a dick when he swaggers into work on Thursday morning, this huge fucking grin on his face and a sleep deprived (yet very content) Mickey trailing behind him. Jade practically falls off her chair and holds in a squeal at least until Mickey’s sat down at his desk. Ian can see Fiona leaning around her divider at the front of the room, absolutely beaming at him. So, yeah, it’s not exactly easy to tone down his smile when he’s got all these people smiling with him.

He happily taps away at his keyboard for a while, leaving his headset to the side to try and hold on to his dopey smile for a bit longer. Well, that and he’s also waiting for Jade to slink into his cubicle with a self-satisfied look. When she eventually does – after eight minutes, a new record – Ian lets her stew for a little while, pretending to be absorbed in his work.

‘Oh _come on_ , you can’t be that interested in selling _cups_ , Ian Gallagher,’ Jade whines, petulantly slapping at his hands.

‘Alright, alright.’

‘So you obviously got laid.’

Ian narrows his eyes at her and swivels in his chair so he’s facing her head on, arms crossed. ‘How’d you figure?’ Jade’s eyes bug and she looks so fucking murderous, Ian just starts laughing. ‘Yeah, okay, a few times maybe.’

‘I’m so happy for you, Ian, ergh,’ she groans, leaning on the divider for support. ‘You and Mickey? Adorable.’

Ian rolls his eyes and shakes his head. ‘Would you have said that a few days ago?’

‘I wanted to rip his balls off a few days ago. Leading you on… _asshole_.’ Ian lets out a chuckle and lifts his eyebrows.

‘Exactly.’

‘Yeah, well, I can change my mind. Life is an ever flowing journey of-‘

‘Please stop. _Please_ stop,’ Ian interrupts, still grinning. ‘Anyway, I’m gonna clear up that he wasn’t being an asshole, okay. He was just doing what _I_ do to guys normally.’

Jade purses her lips and regards Ian for a few moments before nodding. ‘Okay. _Damn_ I was so ready to get mad.’

Ian squints and cocks his head. ‘I thought you just said we were _adorable_? That you changed your mind?’

‘Oh my god,’ Jade cries, burying her face in her hands. ‘I’m so confused.’

‘I’m not. Finally,’ Ian replies with a huge smile, because he actually knows he’s with Mickey and that feels fucking great. Slowly, that thing inside him he’d thought was missing is patching itself up because he thinks that this relationship could go somewhere. It’s pretty early on to make that assumption, but it’s true. ‘I should probably make some calls…’

‘Weren’t you working before I came over here? We can talk for a few more minutes.’

Ian scratches the back of his neck and catches a glimpse of Mickey’s shirt clad back as his eyes drift from his friend. ‘Uh… I wasn’t doing anything. I was waiting for you to come over.’

Jade taps him on the cheek to get his full attention back and shakes her head. ‘I better go then so you can ogle your _boyfriend_ without having to worry that you’re being a rude little perverted bitch.’

Ian smirks and pushes Jade out of the cubicle playfully, keeping his face calm but inside he’s exploding because, _yep_ , Mickey Milkovich is his boyfriend… Probably…

*

Heart palpitations and sweaty palms aren’t a normal reaction to seeing you have a new email from your younger sibling, but here Ian Gallagher is, sweating like a bastard at the prospect of his sister’s wrath. He honestly hadn’t meant for all this time to pass without contacting her, it’d just… happened.

‘What the hell’s got you so worked up?’ Mickey asks, appearing in Ian’s workspace and scaring the shit out of him.

‘Oh, fuck, Mickey, don’t do that.’

Mickey wrinkles his brow and then smiles. ‘Do what?’

‘Fucking sneak up on me.’

‘I don’t know who the fuck you think you’re talkin’ about but it ain’t me. I’m about as quiet as a damn nuclear bomb when I’m trying to get someone’s attention.’

‘Weird analogy…’ Ian murmurs, shaking his head.

‘Whatever. Now what the fuck’s got you so jumpy?’

Ian sinks his teeth into the inside of his cheek and then sighs. ‘My sister.’

Another frown. ‘ _That_ sister?’ Mickey jabs a thumb over his shoulder, so he obviously means Fiona.

‘Nah, my other sister. She still lives with Fi, though.’

‘And you’re shit scared why?’

‘It’s… complicated,’ Ian mutters. Then he turns back to his computer screen and quickly scans over the email, letting out a long exhale. ‘I thought she was gonna kill me,’ Ian breathes out, relieved. Mickey just scrunches his eyebrows together and squints at him.

‘…Via email…’

Ian glares up at him and then turns back to his screen, closing down tabs. ‘I should call her; she says she misses me... I’ve been putting it off too long and just making everything worse.’

Mickey frowns and takes a sip from his coffee flask. ‘Why you been avoiding her?’

He shrugs because he really doesn’t know. ‘I guess… maybe because, since I moved out of the family home… Well, it was pretty hard to keep in contact at first because I was busy and then it just kinda dragged on and was, like, an awkwardly long time not replying to her texts and, uh… Yeah.’

‘Huh… What else she say?’

Ian starts to bite the inside of his cheek and then sighs. ‘She wants me to be at dinner at the house tonight.’

‘Go, man, don’t see why not.’ Mickey smiles and kicks Ian’s chair so he drifts on the wheels a bit. ‘How old is she, anyway?’

‘Seventeen.’

‘You’re twenty one, you shouldn’t be scared shitless of a seventeen year old.’

‘Debbie told me to stab you with her shiv if you said no,’ Fiona says, dressing up the violence with a sunny tone as she suddenly pops her head around the divider. Mickey jumps at her proximity and Ian gives him a look that says _you don’t know what you’re talking about, I should totally be scared of a seventeen year old_.

Ian’s eyes then widen as he turns to address Fiona. ‘She’s turning into Mickey without even having met him.’

Mickey scoffs and shoves Ian’s shoulder, marching out into the walkway. ‘Fuck you.’

Fiona draws her eyebrows together at Ian’s responding expression. ‘People don’t generally tend to look that happy after having a _fuck you_ aimed at them…’ She chuckles as Ian’s smile just gets wider before leaving herself. ‘Dinner’s at seven!’

*

It’s weird standing outside of his childhood home. He doesn’t really know why he’s kept away so long, not even visiting. He’s always been close with his family, has always loved them, and maybe he’d thought it was enough to see Fiona at work every day. He's pretty shocked their sibling relationship is still solid considering how distant he’s been.

Ian sucks in a deep breath and strides up the steps to the front door. The weird feeling returns when he knocks instead of just barging in as he would have done when living here.

Almost instantly, Debbie yanks open the door and drags him into a hug, practically knocking the breath out of him.

‘Woah, hey… Debs,’ Ian wheezes, slowly wrapping his arms around her.

‘I missed you,’ she mumbles into his chest. It makes him smile sadly because he really has been an asshole without even fully realising it.

‘I missed you too.’

She punches him – he knew she would – as she pulls away and scowls. ‘You never called me back.’

‘I’m so sorr-‘

Debbie waves him off, smiling up at him. ‘At least you’re back now, right?’ All Ian can do is grin at his sister and put his arm around her shoulders as they walk inside.

It’s kind of sad that he does a double take when he sees Fiona in her casual clothes instead of her work dress suit.

‘Hey! Glad you could make it; I was starting to worry,’ she greets, instantly pulling him into a hug.

Ian smiles into his sister’s shoulder and something inside him clicks back into place and how he’s been staving this sort of thing off recently just… seems so stupid.

‘Sup, Ian,’ Mike says, waving at him. Ian chuckles because he sounds so damn uncool it’s unreal, but still waves back.

‘Smells good,’ Ian comments as he throws his bag underneath the hooks by the back door, feeling infinitely more comfortable in his surroundings.

‘Debbie insisted on carbonara so carbonara it is.’ Fiona shrugs and stirs the concoction before nodding, deeming it ready to plate up.

‘Ian!’ Lip basically jumps down the last two steps, pulling his brother into a one armed hug. Ian returns it but he’s actually pretty surprised by it. ‘Good to see you, man.’

‘You too… Lip…’ Ian replies suspiciously. Lip just pats him on the shoulder and then moves over to the counter to grab the first few plates of food.

Ian doesn’t get a chance to say hello to Carl and Liam until they’re all seated, and Ian’s really missed them. It makes him ache a little, but he tries to tramp the feeling down with copious amounts of pasta as soon as it’s placed in front of him.

‘Beer?’ Lip asks, offering one to him. Considering he didn’t drive here, yeah, he’ll definitely take the alcohol.

Fiona bursts out with ‘Ian’s dating Mickey Milkovich!’ about three minutes into the meal. Ian’s kind of surprised she hadn’t shared this information with the rest of the Gallagher’s before, but he still starts to blush minutely because _shit_ they’re all looking at him.

Lip wipes his napkin over his mouth and smirks. ‘Oh really? I used to fuck his sister.’

 _That_ was why Mickey’s name had seemed familiar in the beginning. Ian tiredly rubs at his eyes and lets out a long breath. ‘Great, Lip, just… fucking great.’

‘The fucking _was_ gr-‘

‘Oh Jesus, Lip!’ Fiona groans. ‘Can we keep it clean, please? For once?’

‘I seem to recall you using the kitchen floor for your-‘

‘ _God_ , you’re such an asshole,’ Fiona laughs way too loudly and falsely in order to cover up the end of his sentence. Debbie rolls her eyes.

‘Come on, Fiona, it’s not as if we didn’t all hear you.’

Fiona lifts her eyebrows and takes a generous gulp from her glass of boxed wine, eyeing Mike slightly apologetically. ‘That’s… Uh…’

‘Whatever, so, _Ian_.’ Debbie turns all her attention to Ian who’s desperately wishing he’d changed after work, or at least removed his tie because it’s constricting around his neck like a fucking gag.

‘Hah, yup?’

‘How’d you get with Mickey?’

‘Yeah, Ian, how’d you _get_ with Mickey Milkovich?’ Lip says with a clearly amused tone. Ian puffs out a breath of air and rubs his hand along his jaw.

‘He’s, uh… He’s at work-’

‘No shit, the dude works in an office now?’ Lip butts in. He then turns to Mike. ‘Any reports of theft recently?’

‘Shut the fuck up, he’s not like that,’ Ian says, instantly defensive. Lip cocks his head like he’s trying to figure his brother out but then straightens and gestures for Ian to continue. Debbie focuses on him eagerly. ‘Basically, I liked him, and we hit it off.’

Fiona sends him an unimpressed glare. ‘That’s not what I heard nor witnessed.’

‘Nor me,’ Mike chips in because he fucking loves this sort of thing.

‘Do I seriously have to go into detail?’ He takes the collective silence as a resounding yes and releases another sigh. ‘I thought we went on a date but it wasn’t actually a date and then we went on an actual date so I guess we’re dating now, end of story,’ he says in a rush.

Debbie lifts her eyebrows and then grins. ‘I think you’ll be good together.’

Ian mashes his eyebrows together. ‘You’ve not met him before.’

‘I guess not but I’ve heard things.’

‘I heard he once shot a guy for stealing his weed stash,’ Carl says, piping up for the first time. Ian’s mouth moves but no sound comes out because, really, what’s he supposed to reply to that?

‘Highly doubt that,’ Fiona reassures, patting the top of Carl’s head. Carl bats her away and then picks up his fork to shove way too much pasta into his mouth at once. Debbie wrinkles her nose and then more demurely takes a bite herself.

It’s not long before the conversation moves off him and onto something else, for which he’s pretty grateful, although now that the spotlight’s no longer on him, he kinda wishes he’d shown Mickey off a little more.

Judgement and borderline interrogation aside, Ian’s enjoyed having a meal back with his family. And he doesn’t doubt Debbie will try to use violence again to drag him back to another family dinner, but he’s strangely okay with that.

*

‘Jesus, they fuck more than jacked up rabbits.’

‘Jody’s a recovering sex addict,’ Ian sighs, shaking his head against the pillow.

Mickey lifts his eyebrows and glances over at Ian. ‘Well he’s doin’ a piss poor job. Recovering my ass. Psh.’

Ian snickers. ‘Recovering _your_ ass? Thought that was my job.’

‘Shut the fuck up,’ Mickey says with a grimace, settling back down and hugging Ian’s pillow more tightly. Ian thinks he looks adorable which should be weird because Mickey’s the toughest person Ian knows. ‘Wipe that fuckin’ _soft_ look off your face, you look simple.’

Ian turns away and smirks up at the ceiling. ‘Can’t help it, really… Never thought this would happen.’

Mickey props himself up on his elbows and looks over at Ian. ‘Never thought _what_ would happen?’

‘This…’ Ian sighs and then glances back over at Mickey, the corners of his lips pulling up even more. He leans over and presses a tender kiss on Mickey’s lips. He can feel the other man tense momentarily, probably at the gentleness of it, but the fact that he relaxes almost instantly and even brings up a hand to frame Ian’s face makes all these happy feelings bubble up inside Ian.

‘Yeah, it’s pretty fucking weird, right?’ Mickey says gruffly when they pull away from each other.

‘Pretty… fucking… weird,’ Ian agrees, letting out a languid, satisfied breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
